1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an image data processing system to process the image data photographed by a digital camera.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, a digital camera by which the light is converted into electric signals by an optical sensor such as a CCD, and the electric signals are converted into the digital data and stored in a storage medium such as a flash memory, is known. When the digital camera is used, the storing of the image data or various workings can be easily carried out by an individual using a personal computer (PC) or the like, and by outputting the image by a printer connected to a personal computer, or a printer which can be directly connected to the digital camera, the photograph can be printed without development of the film. According to the improvement of the print quality of the printer, the photograph whose quality is so high that there is almost no difference to the silver halide photograph, can also be printed.
The digital camera uses a flash memory housed in the digital camera or a storage medium such as a memory card which is detachable from the digital camera, in order to store the photographed image data. The light inputted from the photographic object into a optical sensor such as a CCD, is converted into the digital data by an A/D converter, and after it is processed by exposure compensation and data compression, it is stored in the flash memory or the storage medium such as a memory card, as the image data. The number of images which can be stored in the flash memory or the memory card, which is used for the digital camera, is about from several number of sheets to several tens of sheets, although it is changed depending on the degree of the compression of the image data, that is, the image quality. Accordingly, in order to store the more image data, it is necessary that the larger number of sheets of the flash memory and memory card are prepared.
However, because the cost of the flash memory and memory card is comparatively high, there is a problem that, when the several number of memory cards are prepared, the purchasing cost of the digital camera becomes high.
Recently, by the aid of the rapid spread of portable terminal equipments such as a note type personal computer, and the substantiality of the communication circumstance such as the internet, by transferring the image data photographed by the digital camera to the large capacity storage apparatus such as a disk of a server computer by using the communication line such as a telephone line, and storing it, a system in which the capacity of the memory card installed in the digital camera is suppressed to the minimum, is proposed.
However, in the case where a large amount of image data photographed by the user is stored by using the large capacity of memory apparatus, there is a problem that the more the amount of image data whose photographing is completed, the more difficult is the search of the image data of the image which is desired by the user. Further, there is a problem that, even when the memory section of the server computer has the large capacity, the memory capacity allotted to the user individual is limited, and because the old unnecessary image data is stored in the memory section, the newly photographed image data can not be stored in the memory section. Further, in order to search the image data stored in the memory section of the server computer, it is necessary that, in order to connect to the server computer, the terminal equipment such as a personal computer is used, therefore, even when only the digital camera is used, in order to obtain the image data, it is necessary for the user to have the personal computer, or the like, inevitably.